The Competitive Intelligence function provides important insights for organizations in competitive markets where change is constant. CI leaders often face a balancing act between limited resources and the need to gather information from a variety of sources - some easily accessed, some not. This situation pushes many CI leaders to rely on support from vendors for some information-gathering activities.

Best Practices, LLC conducted this study to present staffing and budget benchmarks for the CI function as well as an overview of how organizations are utilizing vendors. In particular, this study identifies what core CI activities organizations use vendors for and where vendors provide the greatest value. The study also reviews what characteristics/skills are the best match for CI employees. This research provides health care industry and CI leaders with metrics and insights they can use to increase the value of their function and generate greater influence within the corporation.

KEY TOPICS

Budget & FTE Levels

Uses of Third Party Vendors

Top 5 CI Employee Skills

KEY METRICS

Use of vendors in CI activities

Leadership of war gaming/ scenario planning

Use of vendors in interviewing

Maximizing vendor value for CI activities

Total number of FTE in CI group

Estimated budget for CI group (in $US)

Budget allocated for key CI activities

Top 5 competencies for delivering maximum value CI performance

Effective metrics in evaluating the performance of CI personnel

SAMPLE KEY FINDINGS

Competitive Intelligenve Vendors

Uses of Vendors:

CI activities that most often involve vendors are market/industry audits, war gaming, and competitor sales force profiling. Vendors may conduct these on their own or in collaboration with internal CI staff.

CI activities that least often involve vendors are SWOT analysis, competitor company profiling, and early warning.

Competitive Intelligence Structure & Resources

Structure of CI Function: Only 18% of the benchmark participants represent centralized, dedicated CI groups serving the entire company under or administration or budget. Others are decentralized through embedding in another line function (44%) or through alignment with a specific business unit, brand, or region. ny innovative uses of social media for CI.

STUDY METHODOLGY

Thirty-five Competitive Intelligence leaders from 32 companies in the healthcare industry participated in this benchmarking study. Participants represented small, midcap and large biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. Seventy percent work in U.S. locations.

If you purchase Best Practice Database document(s), you will have 30 days from the date of purchase to apply some or all of the cost of the document(s) toward the cost of a Full Access Individual, Pharma, Group or University Membership. Write us at DatabaseTeam@bestpracticesllc.com or call Benjamin Gregory at 919-767-9160 if you have any questions.

Competitive Intelligence (CI) groups play an important part in helping organizations compete in a complex and ever-changing marketplace by providing insights that help set strategic and tactical dire... (ID 5101)Companies Profiled: Abbott Laboratories, Amgen, Astellas, Bausch & Lomb, more ...